How to Pet a Porcupine

I discovered something new in a staff meeting a few weeks ago, and that is that you can pet a porcupine without getting hurt. I have never actually pet a porcupine, but I was told it is possible without a follow-up trip the hospital, if you do it correctly.

Porcupine

Photo courtesy of © flickr.com/photos/arthur_chapman/3986448936/

If you want to pet a porcupine without getting stuck by a bunch of quills you don’t run up and startle it.  You don’t quickly scoop it up into your hands and give it a big hug.  If you want to pet a porcupine you have to develop trust with it.  First, you hold out your hand to see if it wants to come near and sniff you. Only after it sniffs you can you pet it, but you have to do it a certain way starting at the head and petting down.  To pet a porcupine any other way could potentially hurt…a lot.

Some people are a lot like porcupines. They have quills, and they will stick you if you handle them the wrong way.    You know the kind of people I am talking about, they tend to be a bit grouchy, pessimistic, standoffish and avoid personal contact, have a tendency to complain and point out the bad in a situation, etc…  These people tend to be a lot like porcupines.  If you run up and startle them you’re going to get hurt.  If you try to pressure them into doing something you’re going to get hurt.  If you cross their path in a way they don’t like, start looking for the nearest hospital.

To pet one of these porcupines requires developing trust just like a real porcupine. No, holding out your hand to see if they sniff you is probably not the best way to go about it, but spending time getting to know them is.  Learning about their perspective, their past, their priorities can give you insight in how best to go about working and getting along with them.  Taking the time to building trust with can go a very long way, and save you a lot of pain in the end.  Just as I am sure petting a real porcupine is an amazing experience, I know that getting someone who is a bit prickly on your side can be just as fulfilling.

Also, for those who are pastors of churches and have opportunity to work with porcupines, the reality is that they are also sheep in need of a good shepherd. They can’t simply be dismissed. You can’t just steer clear of them like you might a real porcupine in the wild. You have to learn to pet them.  You have to learn to lead them. So you might as well do it the right way, and save yourself some pain.

Posted on
Category: Leadership

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

44,991 thoughts on “How to Pet a Porcupine”

  3. Не могу сейчас поучаствовать в обсуждении – нет свободного времени. Но освобожусь – обязательно напишу что я думаю.
    because bookmakers very often they focus on the territory of the Philippines in order to provide their exclusive services in the conditions the highly competitive https://old.binaprogram.org/experience-the-thrill-of-plinko-game-online-60/.

    Reply

  6. Hi there I am so thrilled I found your blog page, I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Askjeeve for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a remarkable post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the great jo.

    Reply

  7. I have been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.

    Reply

  14. Погружайтесь в мир трендовых позиций с нашим магазином. Мы предлагаем широкий выбор для достижения целей по https://git.prayujt.com/kristoferbrant/kraken-api-cuba7830/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%83-KRAKEN-%E2%80%94-%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%BE-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BF%2C-%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%88%D0%B8%D0%B9-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B9

    Reply

  25. Howdy I am so excited I found your site, I really found you by mistake, while I was looking on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a tremendous post and a all round interesting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up the excellent job.

    Reply

  29. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?

    Reply

  36. I have been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or blog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i’m glad to convey that I have an incredibly just right uncanny feeling I found out exactly what I needed. I such a lot indubitably will make sure to don?t omit this web site and give it a look regularly.

    Reply

  41. Hello this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Reply

  43. An interesting discussion is worth comment. I do believe that you need to write more on this subject, it might not be a taboo matter but usually people do not speak about these topics. To the next! Cheers!!

    Reply

  48. It’s appropriate time to make some plans for the longer term and it’s time to be happy. I have read this put up and if I may just I want to suggest you some attention-grabbing issues or suggestions. Perhaps you can write subsequent articles regarding this article. I desire to learn more issues approximately it!

    Reply